Murder Ink: 9 murders this week, 303 murders this year

Edward Ericson Jr.

Murder Ink: Baltimore topped 300 murders for the first time since the Schmoke administration.

To no one's surprise, Baltimore City blew through a macabre milestone this weekend, topping 300 murders for the first time in more than a decade. There are six weeks to go in 2015. Police also made two homicide arrests and shot two different suspects, one fatally. One officer was shot three times in a gunfight with a suspect, who was killed in the encounter. Another officer shot a suspect who fled after a traffic stop, wounding him.

City Paper also adds one more murder to the tally this week after missing one last week because we were awaiting confirmation from the police department: At about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, Dale Abrams, a 44-year-old African-American man, was shot in the neck on the 1900 block of Parksley Avenue in Morrell Park. Medics got him to a hospital but homicide detectives were called because of the severity of his wounds. He died later. Abrams had resided on the 6600 block of Peerless Avenue, according to police. With that addition, last week's homicide count was 10, and the year through Nov. 10 was 294.

Monday, Nov. 9

6:36 p.m. Kendal Fenwick, a 24-year-old African-American man, was on the 3500 block of Park Heights Avenue, where he resided, in the Park Circle neighborhood just above Druid Hill Park, when someone shot him. He died soon after at Sinai hospital. Fenwick was the third person murdered in Park Circle this year.

Tuesday, Nov. 10

8:41 p.m. Gerald Stokes, a 38-year-old African-American man, was on the 5200 block of Windsor Mill Road, at the edge of the Dickeyville neighborhood, when someone shot him multiple times. Police say witnesses reported that Stokes was standing near the bus stop when someone shot him from across the street, then walked up, stood over his body, and fired more shots into him before running away. Medics got Stokes to a hospital, but he died soon after.

Thursday, Nov. 12

6:23 p.m. Jaquan Holt, a 21-year-old African-American man, was near his home on the 4000 block of Bellwood Avenue in Waltherson when someone shot him at least once. He died soon after at a hospital. Holt graduated with honors from Dunbar High School in 2013, where he was also a football star. He went to college but soon switched gears and got a commercial driver's license, according to a story in The Baltimore Sun. He was about to become a father.

Friday, Nov. 13

11:20 p.m. A 31-year-old man, who police have not yet further identified, was shot in the chest while on the 1200 block of North Caroline Street, where the Oliver neighborhood meets the Gay Street neighborhood in East Baltimore. Baltimore City school police driving on the 1500 block of East Preston were flagged down by a citizen who led them to the man. The man was taken to a hospital but died soon after. Police have no suspects or motive as of yet.

Saturday, Nov. 14

Tavon Allen, a 32-year-old African-American man, died from gunshot wounds he received 10 days before on the unit block of North Bentalou Street in the Penrose/Fayette Street Outreach neighborhood. Police say that on Nov. 4, at 6:15 a.m., they found Allen inside a car, where he had been shot multiple times.

4:48 p.m. About a mile from where Allen was shot, police found a 27-year-old man, who they have not further identified, with stab wounds on his upper torso. He died soon after at Shock Trauma. Police say the man was stabbed on the unit block of North Abington Avenue, around the corner from where he collapsed on West Baltimore Street.

9:15 p.m. A 22-year-old man, who police have not yet identified publicly, was on the 2500 block of Annapolis Road in Westport when someone shot him in the chest. The man died soon after. Police are looking for witnesses.

Sunday, Nov. 15

7:50 p.m. A man and a woman were both shot on the 3500 block of East Baltimore Street in the Baltimore Highlands neighborhood. The man, who was 38 years old and has not been further identified by police, was shot in the chest and died while on route to a hospital. The woman, 29, suffered a graze wound to her neck.

Monday, Nov. 16

10:45 a.m. A 28-year-old man who police have not yet further identified publicly was shot multiple times on the 5300 block of Sinclair Lane in Frankford. He died there. He is the sixth person to have been murdered in that neighborhood this year.

UPDATES

On Nov. 13, police arrested Jamison Michael Deberry, a 33-year-old African-American man of the 3200 block of Lohrs Lane, and charged him with the murder of 69-year-old James Myers Dews, who was killed on November 5 in his home on the 4000 block of Grantley Road. Police have not publicly detailed how Dews, whose age they originally gave as 51, was killed.

On Nov. 14 police arrested Glen Banks, a 29-year-old African-American man who lives on the 3100 block of Belmont Avenue, and charged him with the Nov. 4 murder of Darryl Whitehead. Whitehead, 25, was shot on the 2200 block of North Fulton Avenue at 3:45 p.m. Banks is being held without bail.

On Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7:45 p.m., two police officers encountered Ryan Quinn Martin on the 3700 block of Oakmont Avenue. Police say Martin had a gun, and one officer, Thomas Young, a five-year veteran, was hit by three bullets. The other officer, 10-year veteran Duane Weston, was not hit. Both police shot at Martin, who died later at a hospital.

On Saturday, Nov. 14 at 11:25 p.m., police stopped a car on the 1200 block of Turpin Lane. The driver bailed out and ran, and police followed on foot and shot the man in the leg. Police say the man was armed and will face criminal charges when he is discharged from the hospital.